Dangerous but no card.

Callum Bruce of the Chiefs is running with the ball. Richie McCaw of the Crusaders tackles him.

The referee who does not have a clear view of the tackle, gets a call from his assistant that foul play has occurred. The referee stops the game and consults his assistant who tells him that a dangerous tackle had occurred but that no card was necessary.

The replay shows that it certainly was a dangerous tackle. Bruce was lifted off the ground and fell headfirst to ground.

Law 10.4  (j) Lifting a player from the ground and dropping or driving that player into the ground whilst that player’s feet are still off the ground such that the player’s head and/or upper body come into contact with the ground first is dangerous play.
Sanction: Penalty kick

The IRB's instruction to referees is that they take a serious view of such tackles and first consider a red card and then work their way back from that. It also has a recommended tariff of punishments.

The IRB's aide memoire to top referees in 2006:

Dangerous Tackles – To be treated at the upper end of foul play scale
(red card, and work down, not the reverse)
·  High
·  No Arms
·  Spear
·  Tackle on the collar
Any player who puts a player in the air or caused a player to be put in the air has a responsibility to ensure that the player is brought to the
ground safely

Recommended suspension depending on gravity:

Lower end: 3 weeks
Mid range: 6 weeks
Top end: 10+ weeks
Maximum: 52 weeks.

Has the Super 14 a more lenient view of such an activity? Ma'a Nonu was cited but not suspended and his coach knows he was lucky. Then there is this case. McCaw was certainly in "dangerous territory", and perhaps a lesser light would have been sent to the sin bin. The sight of Bruce landing on his head is not a happy one, even though McCaw was not in a position to lower him carefully to ground. It was, after all, his action that put Bruce in harm's way.

The referee and his assistant have one, rapid-motion look at such an incident. This is not the case with citing commissioners who have time and slow motion to help them.